Every week I bring my own take on each game and the notable fantasy standouts you should be keeping an eye going into the next week.
● Elite: Those who did better than their peers
● Value: Those who punched above their weight class in terms of price and who I expect to have potential moving forward
● Fluke: There’s not always a fluke, but if you see a $4.8 defender with 12 points, that’s a good sign they’re a fluke. I’ll make sense of those types of performances and let you know if you should expect more from them or if they’re a one-hit wonder.
● Dud: This is obvious. Someone you expected a lot from and got little. If you spend $11.0 on Josef Martinez and he scores 3 points, you’re going to be upset. I’ll tell you if you should’ve seen this coming and whether or not it’s a trend.
Week 7 marks are first DGW (Double Game Week)! Sort of… Inclement weather got the best of us in Colorado (Should’ve seen that one coming), but we still got a DGW from DC United and Montreal Impact, so I’ll make sure to cover how those two teams fared when reviewing the latter of their two games.

Chicago Fire 1 – 1 Vancouver Whitecaps

One Sentence:

● Chicago Fire: The Fire look decent and Nikolic needs to work on his finishing bad.
● Vancouver Whitecaps: Unlucky to lose on that penalty, but at the same time the Whitecaps are not creating enough chances making them a tough team to draw Fantasy players from.

Fantasy Standouts:

● Elite Performers: None: The most “Elite” performance has been from Schweinsteiger to clean up all the messes this Fire team has been making. However, that’s no use to our fantasy teams so look elsewhere for your Fantasy studs.
● Value: Nikolic ($8.2) – 8 points: Nikolic should have more goals and the Fire should have more points. If Nikolic were $10+ I’d say stay clear, but since he isn’t, he’s a good value plug on an increasingly dangerous Fire team.
● Dud: Nico Gaitan ($8.7) – 2 points: He looked a bit dangerous at times, but Sapong and Katai also seemed to be helping fuel the attack. I would give Gaitan some time to establish himself in this team before utilizing him in your squad.
● Fluke: Yordy Reyna ($8.1) – 9 points: With the way the Whitecaps have been playing, consider this a fluke off of poor goalkeeping.

Montreal Impact 1 – 0 Columbus Crew

One Sentence:

● Montreal Impact: If you didn’t have any party of the Montreal Defense this week, your Fantasy team was sad. If you thought the attack was going to do anything without Piatti, you were naive.
● Columbus Crew: Columbus Crew shouldn’t see the top spot of the east again this season and are a tough sell for my fantasy team outside of the defense… maybe.

Fantasy Standouts:

● Elite Performer: Diallo ($6.7) – 9 + 10 points: Diallo is averaging over 9 points a game for the last 3 games. That’s an elite stat line. He’s not just a clean sheet play either as he gets points for his passing as well as defensive bonus points.
● Dud: Crew Attack: Zardes is incredibly goal dependent and Higuain and Santos’ production is dependent on Zardes scoring goals. Not my cup of tea.

Houston Dynamo 2 – 1 San Jose Earthquakes

One Sentence:

● Houston Dynamo: This attack is looking more and more tasty for Fantasy Managers.
● San Jose Earthquakes: Improvement?

Fantasy Standouts:

● Elite Performer: Mauro Manotas ($10.6) – 11 points: Manotas hasn’t scored less than 6 points in a game this season.
● Value: Jackson Yueill ($5.4) – 8 points: Yueill earned his second start of the season and looked dangerous (he’s still only 22). He’s really only a switcharoo candidate at this point though.

Seattle Sounders 3 – 2 Toronto FC

One Sentence:

● Seattle Sounders: The Sounders provide an interesting conundrum for Fantasy Managers as their players are all so expensive after a solid start, but seem to be getting out performed fantasy-wise by other teams’ players.
● Toronto FC: I need more Jozuelo in my life.

Fantasy Standouts:

● Elite Performer: Jozy Altidore ($11.1) – 12 points/ Pozuelo ($11.5) – 11 points AKA Jozuelo: Jozy Altidore has 5 goals in his last 4 games averaging 10 points a game. Pozuelo has 2 goals and 4 assists in his last 3 games averaging 13 points a game.
● Value: Will Bruin ($6.2) – 13 points: Monitor the Raul Ruidiaz injury. He’s supposedly fit, but if he’s not, Bruin is a fantastic value play

Minnesota United 3 – 3 New York City FC

One Sentence:

● Minnesota United: Congratulations on the home opener and what an exciting game.
● New York City FC: NYCFC is heating up, let’s see if they can be consistent and fix their defensive slip-ups.

Fantasy Standouts:

● Elite Performer: Tajouri-Shradi ($7.2) – 21 points: This doubles as a value play. Tajouri-Shradi showed he could score last year hitting 11 goals and 3 assists. At $7.2 he can be a good fill-in depending on the matchup.
● Value: Castellanos ($7.2) – 8 points: Castellanos is the same price and in a same position as Tajouri-Shradi. Look out for these two to become big contributors this season.
● Dud: Maxi Moralez ($10.0) – 4 points: Maxi has struggled since the departure of David Villa this offseason. He’s still got potential (4.0 pts/game so far), but is a risk at $10.0.

New England Revolution 0 – 2 Atlanta United

A Sentence:

● New England Revolution: Friedel out. Mike Burns out. Something needs to change and I’d stay far away until it does.
● Atlanta United: It’s a win, but this was the Barco show as Atlanta didn’t look particularly dangerous outside of Barco’s bangers.

Fantasy Standouts:

● Elite Performer: Ezequiel Barco ($7.4) – 14 points: Barco announced his arrival at Gillette Stadium this weekend. 2 goals off the bench and constant danger was the result of Barco being on the ball.
● Value: Tito Villalba ($7.8) – 13 points: Villalba and Barco are both phenomenal value at their respective price points as Atlanta may be back to their dominant ways of 2018.
● Dud: Brad Friedel & Co.: There’s just so much wrong here to the point that even the best fantasy option (Carles Gil) isn’t worth it.

FC Dallas 2 – 1 Portland Timbers

A Sentence:

● FC Dallas: Game after game the youth movement in FC Dallas doesn’t seem to be a problem.
● Portland Timbers: Definitely some questionable calls, but the fact of the matter is Portland are a concern.

Fantasy Standouts:

● Elite Performer: Reto Ziegler ($8.0) – 12 points: He’s the designated penalty kick taker and had 3 defensive bonus points this past week. If you’re paying $8.0 for a defender this is as good as it gets.
● Value: Jesus Ferreira ($5.6) – 8 points: He bagged his second goal in his 4th start of the season and looks to be the lock starter moving forward for FCD.
● Dud: Diego Valeri ($10.3) – 3 points: Diego was the 5th highest scoring midfielder last season averaging around 7 points a game. In the last 5 games he’s averaged a little over 3 points a game. I’ll pass on Valeri for now.
● Fluke: Blanco ($9.3) – 8 points: Blanco has been having a bad season fantasy-wise. Just because he outperformed Valeri and had a nice assist in this game doesn’t mean you found a hidden gem. Away at Columbus next week is not a matchup I like.

Real Salt Lake 2 – 1 Orlando City

One Sentence:

● Real Salt Lake: They manage to eek out another win, but certainly aren’t inspiring confidence.
● Orlando City: Me thinks Chris Mueller should go back to his super-sub role.

Fantasy Standouts:

● Value: Sam Johnson ($6.1) – 7 points: A “DP” striker at $6.1 is a pretty good deal. It is just his second start though.
● Fluke: Nani ($9.8) – 6 points: This one is a fluke, not because he scored, but because he was on the bench. O’Connor said it was because he was “managing” his players (most likely trying to keep Nani healthy), so I wouldn’t expect him to start the next one from the bench.

Colorado Rapids 2 – 3 DC United

One Sentence:

● Colorado Rapids: In just 7 games Colorado is almost a third of the way to their total goal output last season, however, they also have the most goals against in all of MLS…
● DC United: Top of the east, but impact Rooney’s absence had on the team did not go unnoticed.

Fantasy Standouts:

● Elite Performer: Steve Birnbaum ($9.0) – 10 + 7 points: He had 7 points without a clean sheet against Colorado due to his 4 defensive bonus points. That’s why he’s valued at $9.0 as a defender.
● Value: Benny Feilhaber ($7.9) – 13 points: Colorado is one of the best places in the league to find value. Benny is the playmaking force in this midfield grabbing 1 goal and 1 assist as well as some offensive and defensive bonus points. Great value at $7.9.
● Dud: Luciano Acosta ($10.4) – 4 + 8 points: He scored a goal, sure, but he needs to learn to influence a game without Rooney being present.

Los Angeles Galaxy 2 – 0 Philadelphia Union

One Sentence:

● LA Galaxy: Zlatan does it again.
● Philadelphia Union: On the brightside, Trusty’s red card means we’ll get to see Mark McKenzie get some MLS minutes?

Fantasy Standouts:

● Elite Performer: Zlatan Ibrahimovic ($12.7) – 14 points: Zlatan is Zlatan, but Philly is also Philly, so I’m not ready to go all in on Ibrahimovic yet.
● Dud: It’s hard to call anyone on Philadelphia a dud, because you shouldn’t have been expecting anything from this team away at LA. However, Fabian coming off with injury and Trusty’s red card make this potentially a team to pick again next week.
● Fluke: LA Galaxy Defense: LA Galaxy’s defense is still a huge question mark, be weary of this defense against stronger opposition.

Los Angeles FC 2 – 0 FC Cincinnati

One Sentence:

● LAFC: This team wins or loses on the back of Carlos Vela who is now fixture proof in Fantasy MLS.
● FC Cincinnati: FC Cincinnati couldn’t have expected much against the earlier Supporter Shield/MLS Cup favorites and did well to stay in it till the very end.

Fantasy Standouts:

● Elite Performer: Carlos Vela ($13.8) – 14 points: 1 goal, 1 assist, 4 bonus points for a total of 14 points. These stats are from a game in which LA created less than they had in previous games.
● Value: Darren Mattocks ($6.8) – 4 points: At home against an uninspiring Real Salt Lake side, Darren Mattocks could prove a savvy pick-up. He’s looked goal dangerous, but hasn’t been able to find his scoring boots just yet.
● Fluke: Diego Rossi ($10.5) – 4 points: When you spend over $10 mil on a striker, you expect production. However, you should take solace in his 5 shots and 4 key passes. He’s involved in the game and won’t keep missing the chances Vela creates.

Sporting Kansas City 2 – 2 New York Red Bulls

One Sentence:

● Sporting Kansas City: I would say SKC should be happy with the result given the short rest, however, they really needed a win here to put that disaster of a game midweek behind them and it doesn’t help that they dominated NYRB.
● New York Red Bulls: I think we’re approaching a turning point after seeing BWP come off early and Kaku blow up in stoppage time.

Fantasy Standouts:

● Elite Performer: Johnny Russell ($10.8) – 8 points: Russell hasn’t score less than 5 points in a single game so far this season currently sitting on 4 goals, 2 assists and an average of 8 points a game. With the nightmare of CCL behind them expected Russell and SKC to shift focus and come at MLS hard.
● Value: Gerso Fernandes ($7.4) – 3 points: I actually think all of SKC is a value play as they’ve let their value slide while focusing on CCL. They just finished the slog of CCL and are hungry to avenge their unsuccessful campaign. Gerso had 4 goals and 2 assists in 6 CCL games and the chemistry up front with Nemeth and Russell looks to be locked in.
● Dud: Kaku/Bradley Wright-Phillips – 4/5 points: They both got credited with an assist in this game, but the way it played out makes me question any future success. Kaku will be suspended an undetermined amount of games and BWP’s ego must’ve taken a hit after being the first player subbed out when RBNY needed a goal.